The estranged wife of former Sky Sports presenter Richard Keys said 'if it wasn't for me, he'd be dead by now'.

Julia Keys, 57, said that if she had not demanded that Mr Keys underwent an operation to treat a clogged artery that he would have died within a month.

'When I was living out in Doha with him I took his blood pressure one day and I noticed it was really high,' Mrs Keys told The Sun.

She said Mr Keys was diagnosed with a thoracic aortic aneurysm after visiting a GP in Doha.

The football pundit took to Twitter to welcome the new year and share a photograph of himself in a bed at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London

He then returned to the UK to see a consultant last summer, accompanied by Mrs Keys.

Mr Keys was told that he could undergo surgery but that it was not required immediately.

'Richard was saying he'd rather wait but I said, "Absolutely not. You're going to get this done now because I don't think it should be left"', added Mrs Keys.

'When they opened him up, they said he would have dropped down dead within a month.'

It comes as the former Sky Sports presenter penned an emotional social media post in which he thanked medics for saving his life.

The football pundit took to Twitter to share an image of himself lying in a hospital bed and hooked up to a drip.

Mr Keys, 60, can also be seen wearing an oxygen mask in the picture after undergoing surgery at the Royal Brompton Hospital.

He told his 267,000 followers: 'Emotional now & I'll regret this tomorrow. Not a great year, mostly my fault - but this wasn't.

He wrote: 'Emotional now & I'll regret this tomorrow. Not a great year, mostly my fault - but this wasn't. Thank you to everybody for saving my life & letting me see 2018. Let's all have a happy & healthy New Year.'

'Thank you to everybody for saving my life & letting me see 2018. Let's all have a happy & healthy New Year.'

The London-based hospital is a specialist heart and lung centre.

Mother-of-two Mrs Keys said she first had concerns about her estranged husband's health before they split over allegations he had an affair with lawyer Lucie Rose, 28.

Keys, who works for beIN SPORTS in Qatar, presented Sky Sports' coverage of Premier League football for 19 years, before resigning from his £500,000-a-year job in disgrace in 2011.

His estranged wife Julia, 57, a nurse, said she forced him to see a doctor about high blood pressure. They are pictured left at The Butterfly Ball in at Battersea Evolution in 2009. Mrs Keys is pictured right outside their Surrey home in 2011

Mrs Keys said she first had concerns about his health before they split over allegations he had an affair with lawyer Lucie Rose, 28. Ms Rose is pictured left with Mr Keys last January

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The pundit, who previously admitted behaving in a 'prehistoric way' towards women, moved to the Middle East after leaving his job at Sky Sports in disgrace after making sexist remarks

Keys (pictured left in 2008 and right in 2011) presented Sky Sports' coverage of Premier League football for 19 years, before resigning from his £500,000-a-year job in disgrace in 2011

He and co-presenter Andy Gray had made disparaging off-air remarks about female match official Sian Massey, claiming she did not know the offside law.

In another studio conversation, which was filmed but not transmitted, Keys asked pundit Jamie Redknapp about a former girlfriend. The presenter asked him: 'Did you smash it?' – slang for: 'Did you have sex with her?'

At the time, Sky Sports insiders revealed that Keys and Gray had been dubbed the 'Axis of Evil' by colleagues because of their abrasive style.

Keys then presented a Saturday football show on TalkSport radio, before being lured to Qatar.